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{* here without the use of !important. Rather than fix #menu, just port pages to HTML5 templates. -- MM 2013-08-16 *} ?>

Chapter 3

Voices joined his scream, briefly, left and returned. “Hey, man, you okay?” A concerned voice broke through the man’s paranoid fog. The man opened his eyes, only to see a glimpse of the sky before his head was whipped to the right and then to the left. He groaned. “Dude, if you hate rollercoasters this much, you def shouldn’t have chosen the Hydra, man.” A teenage girl stared at the man, an incredulous look in her violet eyes. She was sporting low-riding, baggy jeans and a Metallica band t-shirt, and seemed completely oblivious to the way the man was dressed. A miniature ruler hung from her right ear, and, when she spoke, a glistening silver stud shone on her tongue. “The what? What the…What’s going on?” The man coughed as the constraints around his body jerked tightly against him with the jerking stop of the ride. “Really, man, are you okay? You seem a little…I don’t know. Maybe…” the teen cocked her head and waved her index finger around her ear. When the man simply stared at her, she sighed theatrically and said, “You’re acting a lot loopy, man.” “Yeah, uh, no,” the man sputtered as the girl guided him from his seat. “I’m fine. Just a little shaken up by the, uh, Hydra.” He grimaced at the teen’s clothing and inched away from her gentle hand. “Don’t worry about me, girl.” They were by a bridge. The ride the two had just vacated flashed under them, water spraying up. The man leaped back. He thought he had seen the lead car’s painted eyes roll at him. “That’s where you’re wrong,” the girl chuckled. “It’s my job to worry about you.” “What on earth are you talking about?” The man swiveled his head. “Did you hear that cry?” “Hear what cry?” The adolescent pulled the Chapter 4man to the side of the bridge. “A child just – never mind.” Not again. The teen pushed him onto the bridge rail. Flailing for balance, the man gasped, “What do you think you’re doing?” The girl stepped back as if she hadn’t heard the question. “C’mon,” she coaxed. “Don’t be a wimp. Time for you to go.” “I could just go out the gate!” he screamed as the teen pushed him off the bridge. He curled into a tight ball as he fell.